Why Does HALLOWEEN Stay So Popular?

 

Halloween has been more Trick than Treat to me of late ...

But I couldn't let one of my childhood's better holidays pass unnoticed.

The National Retail Federation reckons that Americans will pay

a record $3 billion-plus this season on hairy spiders, blowup Draculas and plastic maggots that glow in the dark.

Millennials are characterized by a desire for a prolonged adolescence so it is no surprise that they cling to the idea of dressing up.

In fact, two in three adults feel Halloween is a holiday for them and not just kids.

But I think it goes deeper:

The books and then movies in the 50's of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS and WHO GOES THERE? (THE THING)

did not just tap into the paranoia of the Cold War

but also the paranoia of adulthood when aging children realized that their parents, 

their leaders, and those around them were not who they posed as being:

In essence those children lost their innocence in that they realized they were surrounded by people wearing masks ...

and that the real monsters lay BENEATH those masks.

Especially since September 11, 2001, the Boston Marathon Bombing, and endless school shootings,

it seems all too easy to imagine a murderer sitting in the aisle next to you.

Sociologists tell us if you want to understand a culture, look at its holidays.  

 Christmas gift-giving rituals shed light on how we manage social relationships. 

Thanksgiving feasts depend on shared understandings of family and national origin stories.

 Halloween, with its emphasis on identity, horror and transgression, can tell us about who we want to be and what we fear becoming.


Of course, that is not the only reason for the surging popularity of Halloween --

Young adults I’ve spoken with often identify this as their favorite part of the holiday – the chance to be, at least for a night, whatever they wish to be.

There’s no stress to it.

 You don’t have to travel or deal with relatives. There’s not the holiday pressure to find a date if you are single.

You can wear whatever you want and not be judged. There’s the fantasy, role-play element.

 If you think about it, it’s not surprising that 70% of people feel it’s their favorite holiday.


My friend, Darren Comeaux,

tells me that Halloween is quite an event in Japan, a country from which he has just returned.

In Japan, Halloween is not simply an end-of October event.

1.)  It is celebrated more in the form of masquerade parties and parades for adults.


2.) Halloween season in Japan runs for quite a long time.

 In amusement parks like Disneyland, Halloween-themed performances start from early September.

In schools and offices, Halloween parties and related events fill up their calendars for two months.


(While in American Politics, Trick or Treat lasts all year!)


3.) Halloween is still a growing market in Japan.

DEVIL'S NIGHT

Devil's Night is a name associated with October 30, the night before HALLOWEEN in Detroit, Michigan

(a city that both Victor Standish and I have highly violent memories of)

Devil's Night dates from as early as the 1930's.

Traditionally, city youths engaged in a night of mischievous or petty criminal behavior, usually consisting of minor pranks.

However, in the early 1970s, the vandalism escalated to more destructive acts such as arson.

The crimes became more destructive in Detroit's inner-city neighborhoods, and included hundreds of acts of arson and vandalism every year.

The destruction reached a peak in the mid- to late-1980s,

with more than 800 fires set in 1984, and 500 to 800 fires in the three days and nights before Halloween in a typical year.

ANGEL'S NIGHT

Let us resolve to counter-act the darkness a bit and make of Halloween season a time of Angel Nights where we do random acts of kindness.

Now, that's a real treat to a night of tricks, right?

Look for my collections of Halloween tales 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVFH1PF

only 99 cents

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HM8ZS5Q

only 99 cents

Living in UNCERTAIN TIMES

 

Who to vote for? Will Our Vote even make it out of the ballot box?

A fatal amount of Covid-19

could have just

lodged in the membranes

of our eyes.

(Yes, we can catch it that way)

Or we become a victim of

violence

by uttering a

micro-aggression

or

support of a hated group

of which we were unaware.

When did we get so

thin-skinned anyway?

I feel many of our

great grandparents

who survived

the depression

would tell us it was

past time to

grow up.

I got a scathing email recently from a reader who scorned me for 

even suggesting that a white male Caesar could speak for and to all humanity.

The ghost of Mark Twain whispered in my ear, and I wrote back

that I would try to "man up" to these changing times.

But back to writing in these uncertain times.

I am not a Titan of Literature, but I have read and listened to many of them.

Take Harlan Ellison whose ghost visited my blog long ago:

https://rolandyeomans.blogspot.com/2023/11/decembering-art-isnt-supposed-to-be_30.html

He would say that the very uncertainty, the very danger of our times

provides grist for the mill of our minds.

The above image should spark a dozen story ideas to us.

Yes, we are scared by the Hamas killings, the plague killing our children now, and by the economic ruin hovering over the horizon.

Michelangelo didn't let the ache in his arms, the spasms in his back

keep him from crafting the masterpiece, the Pietà.  

Samuel Pepys lived through the London Fire, the Plague, and restive political unrest that could have resulted in his execution.

But he kept writing the journal that is studied by students to this day. 

We can take the idiocies of conflicting demands being ignored 

and make of them a riveting story or novel born of what we see and feel.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? 

Are You Wasting the DARKNESS?

 

Our lives can be thought of as paintings.

Created by dual brushes:

Our own and the Father's.

If we had our way, the painting of our lives would be airy and bright always.

And the lessons of our mistakes would be lost in the glare of unnatural brightness.

"Going on despite the darkness does all the work, while the happy arrival gets all the glory." 

- Mark Twain

The dark hues of life speak to us in ways the bright caresses of happiness never quite manage.

To be bright in a world of darkness is not easy. Do not do it to stand out to others.

Others have their own burdens to carry.

Do it to stand out to yourself in reflection later:

Here is where I endured when I wanted to give up. 

Here is where I became more than what I thought I could be.

Here is where I developed the strength to lend to others in their own time of darkness ...

if only by encouraging them to go on despite the encroaching gloom

while I stand on distant shores.

NO SAFE MODE TO LIFE

 

Have you noticed? The melodies that stick with us are the bittersweet ones.

At least that is the way with me.

Life moves on without us. Time slips through our fingers whether we’re spending it wisely or not ...

whether we even sense it slipping away or not.

There is a relentless forward current to Nature. It sweeps onward like an uncaring river carrying us with her. 

No opportunity to catch our breaths on the banks, for there are no banks to life.

We swim... well, badly... or sink.

There is no Safe Mode to life.

I am not telling you anything of which you are unaware:

Life has become something of a stretch of rapids for most of us.

I hope today finds you in a better spot than you have been struggling in.

For me ...

Well, it has been interesting ... as in the Chinese curse sort of interesting.

Covid claiming me, blood running during a pandemic, 

having my apartment destroyed by Hurricane Laura while I was trapped within it. 

That was ... interesting.

Being homeless for seven months as my city was mostly destroyed by Laura and Delta that followed two weeks later.

A massive heart attack last Halloween ... all trick and no treat.

Back to driving rare blood ... but now, with a camera on the windshield, facing me, monitoring for any minor infraction ...

I commit even one, and I am terminated.

Interesting.

Guess what?

I committed that one. Ouch.

Mother once told me: 

No one has the right to complain about something that is happening to everyone.

We all have been bobbing along some rough currents these past few years.

I pray that those currents have calmed and you find yourselves in a better place with people who care.

I hope the person you see in the mirror is wiser, if not sadder, at the tuition paid.

We are small only if we allow ourselves to become that way.

Be Large. Live Each Breath. Be kind.

Ever wonder what your 

last book will be?

I think mine will be the above.

{A meld of OLIVER TWIST, FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR, and BAND OF BROTHERS.}

If you are curious about it:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CNR5T9DW

Oh, and in the print versions, there is even an image of Midnight, my cat, at the end who I managed to keep with me during those seven ... interesting ... months.

He is shamelessly asking for reviews of my book, since he gets extra tuna when I am happy.

Well, this post has certainly taken a turn I hadn't expected ... just like life has for all of us, right?

Live on purpose, follow your heart, become your dream.

“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.” 

- Sister Ameal

WHAT LIES AHEAD?

 

As regular readers of my blog already know, Trick or Trick came early for me this month.

 I remember the words I put in the mouth of my outcast angel, Darael.

 "The Creator has shaped the world in such a way that there will always be troubles so that there will always be a time for heroes, a time for Man to be better than what he believes he can be."

Hero? 

Not hardly. 

I have lost how I make a living.

I am about to lose where I live, most of the possessions I cannot afford to move.

Above is the famous painting by Viktor Vasnetsov, The Knight at the Crossroads (1882.)

What does the stone say?

 Does it matter?

The past is what it was. 

Our current state is where our choices led us.

What lies ahead may be fraught with peril or death. In that age there was no Google.

There really is no Google now that forecasts our future with certainty.

We do the best we can with what we have. Make the best decisions with the facts at hand.

And deal with the consequences ... and fight the Darkness ... until we can't.

Oh, you want to know what the stone really said? 

You won't be any happier than the knight who could read it.

Wish me luck. The way ahead is dark, and I am scared.

STILL HERE

 

I've faced cancer, heart attack, destruction of my apartment by hurricane, homelessness -- 

but this is scarier.

After nearly a quarter of a century, I find myself alone without daily contact with my work friends --- my only friends.

Never have I had an accident or ticket ... and that was no accident.

The video from the newly installed cab camera that showed my offence revealed no traffic at all anywhere around.

How many of you could never take your eye off the road for a second with a camera right in your face? 

Or not scratch your nose once, taking one hand from the wheel?

My work friends want to help ... but the need is too great.

I won't ask for help from you for the same reason.

I am scared. 

GOT FIRED ON MY BIRTHDAY

 

I got fired from my job on my birthday today. Talk about a nasty Trick for Halloween!

All of us drivers have a camera aimed at us. I do not recall running that stop sign.

23 and a half years without one ticket or accident ... then this.

With a camera aimed right at me, it was bound to happen to me sooner or later.

I was hoping for later.

All my coworkers were crying ... even my supervisor.

I am 75, no savings thanks to hurricanes/medical bills, and expensive rent.

Who will hire me at this age?

As lame as hearing "Everything happens for a reason," 

it is better hearing it out loud.

Because when you hear it your head, it sounds an awful like "Anything can happen with a razor."

If you can donate anything to my PayPal account, it would be deeply appreciated.

paypal.me/rolandyeomans1

HOW DO YOU KILL A ZOMBIE BUILDING?

 

Where do we come from? The dust.

Where do we go? 

The grave.

Does blood stir in the veins of a dead building?

No. 

Only the night wind.

What does it hear?

The Abyss between the stars.

Like a raw scar across a beautiful woman's face,

The shattered remains of

the towering Capitol One Building

haunted all who viewed it

in my city.

Those in power seem to sift the human storm for souls.

Hence the needless suffering in states where FEMA is sluggish.

The Federal Government seems, like a zombie, to eat the flesh of reason, to fill graves with the helpless, and to stumble forth with empty words.

Oh, I asked how do you kill a

Zombie Building?

Here's how

(with a glimpse of the beauty

of my city)